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Unconscious biases and justice are the topic for the 15th annual Silicon Valley Reads. This popular community program focuses on contemporary themes and offers a wide variety of free events to prompt public engagement in the theme, “…and justice for all.” The films were selected to augment reader’s enjoyment of the selected books: Unfair by Adam Benforado and Writing My Wrongs by Shaka Senghor. Our film festival includes six films chosen to supplement the 2017 theme. See SiliconValleyReads.org for dates and details of the full program.

RSVP Today

Admission Free. Location for all movies is Bluelight Cinemas.
Theatre seating is limited. All films start at 6:00 pm.

Patrons interested in attending should register for each film separately, and bring their registration to the Bluelight Cinemas box office before the scheduled start of the film to exchange with a ticket issued by Bluelight Cinemas.

Ten minutes prior to the scheduled start of the film, anyone who is wait-listed or a drop-in will be able to approach the Bluelight Cinemas box office to ask for a ticket and to be seated on a first come first serve basis.

Seating is limited, and in some cases when overbooking of registrations occurs, certain patrons with registrations may not be able to be seated for the film. The best way to obtain a seat is to register using the orange buttons below and come earlier to the theatre.

Twelve Angry Men

Monday, March 66:00pm

A jury argues a case in a stuffy room on a hot summer’s day. Eleven say “guilty!” But one holdout (Jack Lemmon) is convinced of the defendant’s innocence and stubbornly argues “reasonable doubt.” This tense courtroom drama is a remake of Sidney Lumet’s 1957 favorite and was produced for the Showtime cable network.

Scenes of a Crime

Wednesday, March 86:00pm

One of the most honored justice documentaries in recent years, this riveting true crime documentary explores a haunting question: What might lead an innocent man to confess to something he didn’t do? The case – and the film – drew the attention of the Innocence Project, Center on Wrongful Convictions, and other legal advocates, and the resulting appeal brought new standards for police interrogation.

Ken Burns: The Central Park Five

Monday, March 136:00pm

In 1989, five black and Latino teenagers from Harlem were arrested and later convicted of raping a white woman in New York City’s Central Park. The Central Park Five tells the story of that horrific crime, the rush to judgment by the police, a media clamoring for sensational stories and an outraged public, and the five lives upended by this miscarriage of justice.

Witch Hunt

Wednesday, March 15 6:00pm

Sean Penn narrates this documentary about a local justice system that abused its own power. The story of California resident John Stoll, who was arrested and subsequently charged with multiple cases of child molestation, including that of his own son. In the 1980s, Stoll’s was only one of an epidemic of false convictions in the area. Through interviews with those unjustly arrested, Nachman examines the morally hysteric climate that contributed to the situation.

American Denial

Monday, March 206:00pm

In 1944 Nobel Laureate Gunnar Myrdal asked: How could America’s belief in liberty and equality also enable Jim Crow segregation? American Denial uses Myrdal’s inquiry to probe — through a diverse chorus of commentators — the power of unconscious biases today in what some have called post-racial America.

Scottsboro: An American Tragedy

Wednesday, March 22 6:00pm

In March 1931, two white women stepped off a boxcar in Paint Rock, Alabama, with a shocking accusation of gang rape, by nine black teenagers on the train. So began the Scottsboro case, one of the 20th century’s fieriest legal battles. The youths’ trial generated the sharpest regional conflict since the Civil War, led to momentous Supreme Court decisions, and helped give birth to the civil rights movement.